Thomas is a professional fine art photographer and writer specialising in photography related instructional books as well as travel writing and street photography.
This verse captures the essence: the scent invokes a memory of a potential moment that never materialized — a lost letter, a cancelled visit, a lover who passed by the café but did not stop.
The second half of the phrase — alshwq (longing) — is the emotional twin of coffee’s aroma. In Arabic literature, shawq is not merely missing someone. It is an active, aching movement of the soul toward a person, a place, or a time that cannot be returned to. When coffee is shared among friends, longing takes the form of nostalgia. When coffee is drunk alone at dawn, longing becomes a quiet companion. shr ryht albn n alshwq